nasaAnd lift off! A student-built rocket launched the brilliant white hardpan of the Bonneville Salt Flats in Tooele County, Utah, May 17, during the "launchfest" that concluded the 2013-14 NASA Student Launch rocketry competition. Sixteen teams, comprised of some 250 student participants from 15 states, launched rockets of their own design, complete with three working science and engineering payloads apiece, cheered on by approximately 500 spectators.

Our Student Launch is an annual education event, designed to inspire young people to pursue studies and careers in the "STEM" fields -- science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The event is organized by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and sponsored by ATK Aerospace Group of Magna, Utah. The grand-prize-winning school team will be named by ATK and us in late May.